response to the crisis in syria. i believe that the political transition to a government that reflects the will of the syrian people was also in the core and the national security interest of the united states and the region. moreover, this change would align with our values of supporting the space process and the basic rights and freedoms that should be enjoyed by all people regardless of religion, ethnicity and gender. over the course of the past 20 months, the al-assad regime has unleashed a barrage of terror across the country with the plane of remaining in power. we are just hearing about in last couple of days, the last couple of hours more urgently about weapons of mass destruction and what that could mean. more than 40,000, we know that is a conservative number. more than 40,000 syrians have been killed, and countless have been injured. refugees have surged into neighboring turkey, jordan, lebanon and iraq taxing the limits of those countries capacities and creating a regional crisis. the escalation of violen